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Teach English abroad. Wouldn’t that be soemthing. Stories of those that are doing it. And tips for international travel.
…but enjoying it greatly nonetheless. I’ve had a laptop since it was my sole computer: a Titanium MacBook circa 2001 or so (550 MHz, 20GB HD). The past several years it’s been an occasional internet music streamer or portable DVD player and not much else. I didn’t have a wireless set-up (years ago had an early Airport which had since been sold) and hadn’t replaced the ancient original battery in the laptop (which made it impractical for remote use — if you wanted more than 15 minutes you needed to be near a plug).
But within the past week or two I’ve invested about $90 in a new battery, about $60 for an 11g card — the highest it will take (less the $50 rebate I’ll get for turning in the old 11a card), and about $99 for an Airport Express (11n out) wireless device.
On the “out and about” end of things, I’ve recently had one and will have another client meeting using the laptop.
But to the genesis of this post. I am lying back in M’s hammock in the shade of the pergola in the back garden, browsing inspiration sites to generate some trains of thought for a new (self) project, listening to birds twitter and coo whilst watching the leaves tremble in the gentle breezes.
I think I’ve “got” this laptop thing you’ve spoken about, D.
What do they have in common. First, an explanation: I went to post in my “Emma’s Friends” (Mac enthusiast) blog and discovered it gone. I am puzzled. (a) My last post was early June — about a month ago, (b) I apparently DL a complete backup of the domain it was on in January, but the MySQL files were empty. However, I vaguely remember going on a mad sweeping binge some few weeks back when I was installing Pu..po.. {whatsitcalled?} ProjectPier and I may’ve discarded it. …Which doesn’t explain (b), but … Life Is Ephemeral
So did I not find it wonderfully timely when I saw this post from Miraz Twittered. The summation:
I’m on a decluttering binge right now. I’m tossing out, selling and giving away the ’stuff’ I don’t need. I want the objects around me to be useful, and if possible, beautiful. This glass wasn’t one of the things I wanted to remove from my life. The breakage reminds me to keep in sight not only all the stuff I don’t want in my life, but a clear image of what I do want.
Addendum:
I wouldn’t mind having an open account at Chelsea Green, publishers, whom I follow on Twitter @chelseagreen … See this latest which highlights a book by Charles Dowding, “Salad Leaves for All Seasons”. The post includes a great YouTube video describing successful ways to get the most leaves from your garden. I rather failed at that this year, not taking time to do any seedlings. And I do envy him his greenhouse.
Here I learn of a “mouse repellent that really works”, the aptly named Mouse Magic. (Seems it is mega-minty and that’s something the little buggers cannot stand.)
I’ve always wanted a place to deal with my failed CD burns or (remember?) AOL mailings. This CD Recycling Center does accept CDs and DVDs and is trying to build up a full-country network.
And in closing, Opacity photographs “urban ruins”…something that’s always fascinated me for an unknown reason. I think I had some other sites in a previous blog… Hmm. Ah, well. All is fleeting and decays.
Monday is here already. Successfully avoided doing much computer work (ie: client work) over the week-end, though I watched a really great CSS tutorial, the first three episodes in my iTunes — on converting a Photoshop layout to a clean and semantic site, and have downloaded all: this is way cool and the presentation is clear and the material incredibly useful.
Noted for later: read this interview of Patrick McGrath (I’ve enjoyed “The Grotesque”) and … yes: most interesting. Ah: “Trauma” is his eighth novel; I must investigate.
Have tucked this site on soil fertility and what happens when your N P K is out of balance into my WebNoteHappy (URL-keeping app). Quite informative. With the arid climate, I wonder about potassium… Mmm. More thought required.
A passel of image gallery scripts have caught my eye and I have places for most of them: list, prioritize, execute, move on.
This is a beautiful Flash example: wherein I would actually get into Flash.
Highslide: The original (beautiful!), a useful forum thread, and a Highslide version of Imageflow …. the orig. ImageFlow.
And, of course the SlideShowPro: I want to use that copy of Director I bought but didn’t use for another project.
And the apex: trying to figure how I will buy groceries (ah, an aside: of course I’ll probably be living on yoghurt for the next two weeks) .. but I got my first digital lens. I got a digital body a couple of years ago but had been using my old film-body lenses but my eyes are getting tired/old/flakey and I was having consistent trouble discerning focus on narrow depth of field items (which I like to shoot). It was really depressing and I’d cut way back on taking photos. The impetus for the purchase was the upcoming photo shoot of M’s artwork (and yes, last year the shots were a bit blurry). This years’ need to go into a book and they’re line and ink so clarity is a must.
So I shopped a bit, then went to Idaho Camera and after looking at some choices picked up this one as the best all-’round: the Promaster 18-200 digital XR EDO Auto Focus Zoom for my Pentax *istD.
So, of course I had to take a lot of shots, some of which I’ve uploaded to Flickr.
I strongly believe that when we are ready to learn, the teacher appears, whether they take the form of a fictional character or a real-life, personal contact. I think I was ready to learn something from Pai last week, that I wasn’t ready to accept when I first encountered her story.
From this article, from this writer.
The sweet and perfect fruit, the banana, is in in danger of demise.
Not long after Panama Disease first began to kill bananas in the early 20th century, United Fruit’s scientists warned the corporation was making two errors. They were building a gigantic monoculture. If every banana is from one homogenous species, a disease entering the chain anywhere on earth will soon spread. The solution? Diversify into a broad range of banana types.
The company’s quarantine standards were also dire. Even the people who were supposed to prevent infection were trudging into healthy fields with disease-carrying soil on their boots. But both of these solutions cost money – and United Front didn’t want to pay. They decided to maximise their profit today, reckoning they would get out of the banana business if it all went wrong.
Scanning this article on Steampunk (an aesthetic that appeals to me in odd ways) I come across this: Dharma in the Dirt which I must make time to read later.
The Long Now views things a bit differently than one typically does in this hyperkinetic world. There’s a well-kept-up blog, seminars, and memberships and everything.
Isabella Rossellini has concocted some delightful minute-long videos on the sex life of insects. Very well worth a watch.
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